The Davidic Covenant

by HICKLING, P.L. | Category: Bible Covenants | Sept 2007

The nature of a divine covenant

All divine covenants are unilateral in nature; that is, God Himself dictates their terms. Obviously enough, there can never be any question of bargaining about their provisions, and the intrinsic faithfulness of God ensures that He will always keep any promises that He makes. However, sometimes God's promises may be conditional; for example, the Mosaic covenant studied in the June issue of this magazine was given by God in the words, �"... if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation"� (Ex.19:5-6). In this case the kingdom could be, and was, taken away from Israel because of their rejection of God's Son (Mat.21:43). On the other hand, some of God's covenants are firm statements of His intentions, such as those with Abraham and Noah.

The sure covenant

The covenant with David was of this latter sort and its words are worth quoting in full: �'the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever'� (2 Sam.7:11-16). This was not said to be a covenant initially, but it is clear from its words that it was such, and among David's last words were those of his assurance of the security of God's promise to him: �"he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure"� (2 Sam.23:5).

Why was this covenant made with David particularly? His predecessor Saul had the kingdom taken from him because of disobedience, that is, the desire to go his own way (1 Sam.15:23), while �David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite� (1 Kin.15:5). He was the man after the LORD'S own heart (1 Sam.13:14), whose character could illustrate that of the greater King to come. The Israelites of following days could look back on him and see his devotion to God, his inspired leadership of his people, his resignation and trust in adversity and his tender character, perhaps unexpected in a man of war. He was in most respects a fitting prototype of his greater Son. His grievous lapse in the affair of Uriah and Bathsheba illustrated how it is possible for the greatest and most godly of men to fall, but his repentance was sincere and deeply felt (see Psalm 51) unlike that of Saul, which was superficial and self-interested.

Look at the covenant promises:

1. A great name (7:9) This was no self-aggrandizement, such as Nebuchnezzar indulged in when he said, �"Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?"� (Dan.4:30). It was the Lord who had taken David from following the sheep to be prince over His people (2 Sam.7:8).

2. A place for the people (7:10) A most significant event in David's life, and one which showed how much he was attuned to the desires of God, was his bringing the ark of God to the city of God. God had chosen this place to be His centre, and it was His desire that it should be the place to which His people should come to worship. David himself was not allowed to build the house of God in which the ark would be placed, but his son Solomon built and dedicated it with becoming humility (1 Kin.8:22-53). The place for the people, that is the country, was focused on this place of rule and worship.

3. Rest (7:11) The promised peace and security were only partially fulfilled in David's lifetime, but they will have an enduring future application.

4. A house (7:11) - that is, David's posterity, which was to continue �for ever� (v.29) before God. Note the emphasis on its permanence: although often the house of David's rule was far from holy and it was often disgraced by the character of its kings, God continued to keep his promise that the line of David should continue. For instance, because of Solomon's sin God took away from the arrogant Rehoboam the northern tribes, subsequently called Israel, but left Judah to him for David's sake, and again in Abijam's case God left David �a lamp in Israel�. But the reason for the sureness of this covenant is its culminating purpose: God has determined that He will enthrone His king in His place ruling over His kingdom.

5. An offspring (seed) (7:12) The word is used as a singular, to agree with 'his'. It is used here to refer to Solomon, all the subsequent descendents of David, and ultimately to the Messiah, the archetypal Son of David. Obviously the reference to committing iniquity does not apply to Him. The use of the word is reminiscent of the quotation of the promise to Abraham in Galatians 3:16, referring it to Christ, the ultimate Seed of Abraham.

6. A kingdom (v.13) The covenant promise of the kingdom would only pass to faithful sons of the covenant, and we trace below some of its vicissitudes, but ultimately the promise will be fulfilled.

David's line

The history of David's successors mostly makes depressing reading. This is not the place to attempt to review the lives of all the kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Zedekiah, but very often the scriptural verdict is �he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD�; on the contrary, those who obeyed God were commended as �doing all that their father David had done� (e.g. Asa, 1 Kin. 15:11 and Hezekiah, 2 Kin.18:3). 2 Kings 24 and 25 describe the melancholy end of the kingdom of Judah. Zedekiah, who had been installed as king in place of his nephew Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar, rebelled against him, but Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city, and Jerusalem fell in 587 BC. Zedekiah's sons were killed before his eyes, then he was blinded and taken away to Babylon. After this Jerusalem was burned and its walls were broken down. The leading people of Judah were taken captive to Babylon, leaving only the poorest to be agricultural workers, and Jerusalem was utterly desolate. Where was the promise of the house of David to go from there?

The promised Son of David

The covenant with David could have seemed extinct to the captives in Babylon; the city of David lay waste, and there might have seemed to be little prospect of its restoration. Yet the prophecy of Isaiah, written more than 100 years previously, pointed them towards a restoration not only of the city, but also of the line of David. First of all there was a promise of a son: �For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore� (Is.9:6-7). This was not to be fulfilled when some of the captives were allowed to return by the conquering Cyrus, but it looked forward to the time when Christ was born and his ministry on earth began. When He came His genealogy was traced to David, both through the line of his mother Mary and his putative father Joseph, and the Magi searched in Bethlehem for the King of the Jews. The people knew that the Messiah, the Son of David, should be expected, so when they saw Jesus' works they said, �"Can this be the Son of David?"� (Mat.12:23), and this culminated in His reception into Jerusalem, when people threw down palm branches and clothes before Him, and called out, �"Hosanna to the Son of David"�. But earthly majesty was not yet to be His; instead of a crown of gold there was a crown of thorns, and He was lifted up not on a throne but on a cross. But that was not the end; He rose from the dead, and Paul referred back to the promise of Isaiah 55:3 in speaking of the resurrection � �'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David'� (Acts 13:34). Heaven's King is still to come to reign.

The coming King

This person will be unlike the failing kings of the past, often unwise, unjust and idolatrous, but the �shoot from the stump of Jesse� will be wise, just and full of the fear of the Lord. As Jeremiah wrote, �"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land"� (Jer.23:5). In the Millennial reign of Christ, the scattered Israelites will be gathered into the land, and Ezekiel four times refers to David as their king, prince or shepherd. Other Old Testament characters are named in connection with this time, so it may well be that David is the vicegerent of Christ Himself, and David's Son will be David's Lord. In this the covenant with David will be fulfilled, when God's Son reigns on earth from God's place over all men, willing and unwilling alike.

Beyond this we have very little information. The slain redeeming Lamb of Revelation 5 is called �"the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David"�, and He is again called "the root and descendent of David" (Rev.22:16). The Lord will have for ever a glorified human body, which retains through his birth from Mary continuity with the Davidic line. This reaffirms the continuity and trustworthiness of the divine promises. God will sum up all things in Christ (Eph.1:10 RV), and we, bought by Him, will share in the glories of His everlasting reign.

(Quotations from the ESV, except where otherwise stated)

HICKLING, P.L. | Sept 2007
Bible Covenants